Atrocities by U.S. Troops Commonplace, Soldier Says

One of the
more than 5,000 U.S. military deserters,
Jeremy Hinzman, had an Immigration and Refugee Board hearing in Canada at
which another ex-soldier, Jimmy Massey testified that
U.S. military
atrocities were commonplace in Iraq.

His story is one of an increasing number that tell of the savagery of the
occupation troops. This despite strong measures to try to keep this brutality
from being brought to light:

Although no “medevac” order appears to have been written, in violation of
Army policy, Ford was clearly shipped out because of a diagnosis that he was
suffering from combat stress. After Ford raised the torture allegations,
Artiga immediately said Ford was “delusional” and ordered a psychiatric
examination, according to Ford. But that examination, carried out by an Army
psychiatrist, diagnosed him as “completely normal.”

A witness, Sgt.
1st Class Michael Marciello, claims that Artiga
became enraged when he read the initial medical report finding nothing wrong
with Ford and intimidated the psychiatrist into changing it. According to
Marciello, Artiga angrily told the psychiatrist that it was a
“C.I. [counterintelligence] or
M.I. matter” and insisted that she had
to change her report and get Ford out of Iraq.

Documents show that all subsequent examinations of Ford by Army mental-health
professionals, over many months, confirmed his initial diagnosis as normal.

A June 25, 2004 memo from Vice Admiral
Lowell E. Jacoby, Defense Intelligence Agency chief, entitled “alleged
detainee abuse by TF 62-6,” describing
how DIA personnel who complained about
abuses were threatened, had their car keys confiscated and e-mails monitored,
and were ordered “not to talk to anyone in the
U.S.” or leave the
base “even to get a haircut.”

The June 25 memo also describes how the
task force’s officers punched a prisoner in the face “to the point he needed
medical attention,” failed to record the medical treatment, and confiscated
DIA photos of the injuries. The date of
the incident is unclear.

Combine what we know of the abuses that have come to light with this new
evidence of the vigor of cover-up attempts, then add in the Dubya Squad’s
penchant for secrecy and foot-dragging about
FOIA
disclosures, and then estimate the size of the iceberg we’re seeing the tip of.

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